June 12, 2008

24 Hours in San Francisco, a whirlwind trip!

This past Wednesday, I had the great pleasure of attending the annual Google National Sales Conference held in San Francisco at the Hilton Hotel.  My former CEO, Susan Lyne and I were the Google Guests of Honor.  The theme of this year’s conference was ‘The Edge.’  Google considers my company as being a ‘leading edge’ organization, a world-class brand, and a valuable partner.  Also in attendance were approximately 1500 of Google’s best and brightest sales force.  The grand ballroom was filled with high energy and it was a really fun experience.  Of course, we managed to squeeze in a little shopping and a little fine nibbling before returning home.   

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Here I am at Macy's! We had a bit of time to explore the wonderful
Union Square Macy's store where the Martha Stewart Collection was
displayed so wonderfully and beautifully. Here I am with some of the
MSC soaps and kitchen items.
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The Fourth of July items looked great - the merchandising was so
clever and well-presented. The cupcake papers and the red, white, and
blue party goods are must-haves!
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It's so much fun to meet with Macy's staff and executives. This is
Kia Panah, Laura Herbert, me, Elizabeth Canady - she heads our ad sales
team on the west coast - and Susan Berlesman.
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I have never, ever seen a prettier weddings registry department.
This is Susan Berlesman, Karen Birch, Joan Schweizer - a 20 year
veteran, me, and Sigrid Sanborn. For some tips for brides on their registries please visit the  Brides Guide
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The way brides can register and choose items is very cleverly designed and executed.
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more of the registry department
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This is a display of our beautiful transfer-ware patterned china.
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One can walk around the store, choose an item, and scan it right into the store's registry.
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our beautiful wedgwood
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Lily of the Valley is one of my favorites.
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Because my impromtu store visit coincided with the monthly
president's 'shop talk' taping, I was asked to sit in for an interview.
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Susan Berlesman - SVP of Bridal & Gift registry, me, and vice chairman of Macy's West - Rudy Borneo - a 43 year veteran.
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After the interview, we visited Boulettes Larder for lunch.  Located
in the ferry terminal, this is a wonderful place to shop for
ingredients as well as to dine - what delicious food!
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mint infused chicken salad
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a wonderful cheese plate
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mixed fresh greens with herb flowers
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lentils with grilled sardines and vegetables
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A really scrumptious lemon merigue tart!

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My favorite tiny shop for creative things in San Francisco is Bell'occhio
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the exterior of Bell'occhio
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These are spools of fabulous antique ribbons.
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The workshop at the store - this is where special orders, shipping, and party design happens.
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Here I am posing with Claudia, the shop's owner and creative force.
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Another must-stop-by is Zuni Cafe, where we had delicious cappuccino.
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This is Gilbert Pilgram - the co-owner along with Judy Rogers.  He
was very helpful with all sorts of suggestions for other places to
visit in San Francisco.
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the pristine kitchens at Zuni
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On stage at the Google Sales Conference - this is my assistant Liesl with Debbie Olson, who provided the beautiful and delicious cherries from Sunnyvale for my demo. 
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This is an assortment of old and new cherry pitting tools.
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And, of course, 1-800 FLOWERS provided Martha Stewart flower arrangements for all the tables - 150 of them!
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Debbie Olson and me - the Olson family has been growing cherries since 1899.
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Susan Lyne and I were interviewed by Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google.
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The stage was beautifully designed by Google using all things Martha!
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After the interview, I showed the audience and Tim Armstrong, Google's chief marketing officer, how to make cherry mojitos.
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Two surprise 'helpers' showed up - the brilliant engineers and
co-founders of Google (which, by the way, means 10 to the 100th power)
- Larry Page and Sergey Brin - they were so helpful!
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Sergey and me - he and his partner Larry created the world's largest
search engine when still students in college - I thought he would be
the best cherry pitter.
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He showed some interest in the various pitters.
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He was not too interested in the Imperia vodka
- only in the fact that Russian words were on the bottle.  Sergey, by
the way, has plans to travel into outer space aboard a Russian
spacecraft, like my friend, Charles Simonyi.
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Larry was the lime squeezer.  He had never once used a hand squeezer or a reamer!
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All three guys loved the final mojitos - thank heavens!  The audience was also served the same drink.
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our toast to a successful demo
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There was a raffle of Martha Stewart Collection items - the lucky winner was beaming!
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The raffle - notice Sergey drinking his mojito - he really liked the flavor.
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